Whenever I give the National Rifle Association grief (e.g. an admonition for their recent decision to pull Dom Raso’s “guns for the blind” video) I try to remember that the NRA plays politics. That game requires long-term thinking, back-room dealing and, for us, unpalatable compromise. So when I read Gun lobby’s campaign donations drop in NY since passage of SAFE Act at nydailynews.com (excerpt after the jump) that the NRA and National Shooting Sports Foundation have cut contributions to New York’s pro-gun pols, I tried to think why they’d do such a thing. Lack of funds? Ha! No one worth supporting? That’s not hardball. A lost cause? That doesn’t seem possible but . . . what do you reckon? . . .
National pro-gun groups have largely holstered their checkbooks since the passage of Gov. Cuomo’s tough gun control law early last year.
The National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Federation, and gun manufacturers have donated just $33,893 to candidates in New York since the beginning of 2013, far less than in previous two-year election cycles, a Daily News review determined.
By comparison, the groups gave candidates a more robust $110,000 from 2011 through the end of 2012. That was before state lawmakers passed Cuomo’s controversial SAFE Act in January 2013, just a month after the Newtown, Conn. elementary school massacre . . .
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, hasn’t donated a dime to the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee since the gun law passed. The group gave $32,500 over the previous two years, records show.
Lawrence Keane, the group’s senior vice president, wouldn’t say whether passage of the gun law was behind the drop in donations.
“We don’t discuss campaign contributions,” he said . . .
The NRA had given the Senate Republican Campaign Committee $5,000 in 2012 but has not been active since. The organization did donate $10,000 to the state Conservative Party, which vehemently opposed the gun law, since last year.
[h/t DD]